To advance the development of regional and Urban Air Mobility, leading companies, universities, and research institutions as well as municipalities and organizations are joining forces to form the Air Mobility Initiative (AMI). The members of the Air Mobility Initiative include SkyFive, Airbus, City of Ingolstadt, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Flugsicherung, Diehl Aerospace, Droniq, Munich Airport, Red Cross, and Telekom. This initiative, which is funded by the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany, will set up a series of research projects aimed at making electric air mobility within and between cities a reality. The joint projects are centered around three main areas: electric aircraft, air traffic management services, and vertiports, meaning the necessary infrastructure on the ground.
— CEO of SkyFive
Reliable data connectivity between the aircraft and the ground is a key enabler of Urban Air Mobility. The AMI gives us an opportunity to deploy Air-to-Ground and satellite technologies in a real-world environment and provide Connectivity Network Services to various stakeholders of the group.
— Head of Air Mobility Initiative
We will examine the various elements of such an air transport system in realistic projects to gain an accurate picture of the technical and regulatory requirements. Electric air transport can enhance public transport, airports and time critical mobility services, it will be environmentally friendly, quiet and safe.
In a first step, the AMI partners will address the technological, infrastructural, legal, and social prerequisites for the future implementation of advanced air transport. Subsequently, the knowledge gained will be carried through a demonstration project under real conditions with electrically powered vertical take-off aircraft.
Work on the individual AMI projects began in January 2022. The test flights of the pilot project will be carried out in the region around Ingolstadt. The initiative is funded with a total of €17 million from the Free State of Bavaria and €24 million from the Federal Government. Together with the industry's own funds, this results in a total activity of € 86 million over a period of three years.
SkyFive, together with its partner Echostar Mobile, contributes to the "Unmanned Traffic Management", which deals with the safe and efficient flight of vehicles on their routes in and outside cities. SkyFive will develop and deploy a heterogenous communication system, which is based on air-to-ground, public cellular, and satellite technologies. Analyzing the system performance, developing means of optimization, and assuring high availability are key activities within the project. The result will be an encompassing system concept that enables the future of automated flying.
Airbus is responsible for the electrically powered aircraft together with Diehl Aerospace, University Stuttgart, and other partners. Components and systems for the CityAirbus NextGen are to be developed in this workstream. The third area of "Vertiport" deals with the take-off and landing sites for the aircraft and their city and airport integration and their connection to other means of transport. Munich Airport, Deutsche Bahn, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Airport Nürnberg, Universities of Ingolstadt and Munich and other partners are responsible for this topic.
The AMI partners in alphabetical order are: Airbus Urban Mobility, Airbus Defence and Space, Airbus Helicopters, APSYS Risk Engineering GmbH, amd sigma strategic airport development GmbH, Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz, brigk - Digitales Gründerzentrum der Region Ingolstadt GmbH, C-3 Comm Systems, DB Regio represented by Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO), DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, Diehl Aerospace GmbH, Droniq GmbH, EchoStar Mobile Limited, Flughafen Nürnberg GmbH - Airport Nürnberg, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., f.u.n.k.e. AVIONICS GmbH, HENSOLDT Sensors GmbH, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Munich Airport International GmbH, Schwarzbild Medienproduktion GmbH, SkyFive AG, Skyports, Stadt Ingolstadt, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Technische Universität Hamburg, Technische Universität München, Telekom Deutschland GmbH, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Universität Stuttgart.
About SkyFive:
SkyFive is a provider that specializes in Air-to-Ground telecommunication solutions and services for the aviation market. It was founded by Nokia Senior Executives in 2019 to create the Internet of the Skies. The company’s mission is to deliver true broadband services to airline passengers, enable the real-time transfer and analysis of vast amounts of aircraft data, and support low latency communications required for the mass proliferation of Urban Air Mobility. SkyFive delivers its unique services via giant cells in the sky, with a solution that fully leverages the benefits of the 4G and 5G ecosystem. Learn more at https://skyfive.world.
